footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Juventus F.C. Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

Capocannoniere The ''Capocannoniere'' award (; literally "head gunner"), known as Paolo Rossi Award1951–52 Serie A season; he later also played for Italian club

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spen ...

. He won the 1944 Danish championship with childhood club

BK Frem Boldklubben Frem (also known as Frem, BK Frem or BK Frem Copenhagen) is a Danish sports club based in the Valby-Sydhavnen area of Copenhagen. It is best known for its semi-professional football team. Since its foundation in 1886, Frem has w ...

. Hansen scored 10 goals in eight games for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing bo ...

in 1948, and won a bronze medal with Denmark at the 1948 Summer Olympics. In 1985, Hansen received the Italian order of chivalry. He was the son of Danish international goalkeeper

Niels Peder Hansen Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nicolaos after Saint ...

, who also played for BK Frem, and was the father of Henning Hansen, who played for BK Frem in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Playing career

Amateur career

Born in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

, Hansen started his career with

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

club

BK Frem Boldklubben Frem (also known as Frem, BK Frem or BK Frem Copenhagen) is a Danish sports club based in the Valby-Sydhavnen area of Copenhagen. It is best known for its semi-professional football team. Since its foundation in 1886, Frem has w ...

in the amateur-only Danish league. He played as a left inside wing, was a world-class header of the ball, and could kick the ball equally hard with both legs. With BK Frem, Hansen won the 1944 Danish championship, and was the top goal-scorer of the 1948 Danish championship tournament. Hansen made his debut for the Danish national team in June 1948, and scored three goals in his first two international games. Playing in the Danish amateur league and having played just two international games, he was not well known outside

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

until he was selected for the Danish team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Hansen scored seven goals in four games as Denmark won bronze medals at the tournament, including four goals in Denmark's 5–3 win against the Italy national team. Hansen's Olympic performance made his name well known across Europe, and drew the attention of several Italian teams. He signed a professional contract in late 1948, which spelled the end of his career in the amateur-only Danish national team following eight games and 10 goals in the span of four months.

Professional career

Hansen was almost hired by Italian club A.C. Torino, but arch rival

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

club

Juventus F.C. Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

eventually secured Hansen's signature. BK Frem's president got a call from a director at Nordisk

FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

Copenhagen, referred by FIAT and Juventus owner

Gianni Agnelli Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce an ...

, who desperately wanted him to sign Hansen for his club. As Hansen was an amateur, he was free to move and promptly signed a three-year contract with Juventus on 16 November 1948 for DKK111,111.11 ($23,500). He was given the

number 10 shirt Squad numbers are used in association football to identify and distinguish players that are on the field. Numbers very soon became a way to also indicate position, with starting players being assigned numbers 1–11, although in the modern ga ...

, and made his debut three days later against

A.S. Bari Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, commonly referred to as Bari, is an Italian football club based in Bari, Apulia. Bari currently plays in the . The team finished the 2021–22 season in first place in Serie C and earned promotion to Serie B for ...

. Hansen's first season did not start well for a tall and strong man not used to work on defense, and after 12 games the Italy national team coach was called just to verify that he was the same player who had scored the four goals against them at the Olympics. Hansen ended his first season with 15 goals in 24 games. In his second season,

Jesse Carver Jesse Carver (7 July 1911 – 29 November 2003) was an English footballer, best remembered for his enlightened management of some of Europe's finest clubs. Club career Carver started out in football as a player, joining Blackburn Rovers as a ...

replaced fellow

Englishman The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...

William Chalmers as head coach of Juventus, and a less rigid and physically demanding training schedule paid off for Hansen. In the 1949–50 Juventus team, Hansen had an irreplaceable partner in another Danish player from the 1948 Olympics team, Karl Aage Præst. Præst was a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

with electric

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

skills who scattered opponents through the field and produced precise crosses to Hansen, who netted them thanks to his violent and precise header. Juventus won the

1949–50 Serie A The 1949–50 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams Como and Venezia had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004'', Pan ...

championship with Hansen scoring 28 goals in 37 games. In 1950, Hansen and Præst were joined by another Dane, captain of the 1948 Olympic team

Karl Aage Hansen Karl Aage Hansen (4 July 1921 – 23 November 1990) was a Danish football player, who played as a forward. He won a bronze medal with the Denmark national football team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. He scored 17 goals in 22 games fo ...

, who came from Serie A league rivals

Atalanta Bergamo Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. The club plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11. Atalanta was founded in 1907 by Li ...

. The great level of understanding of those three great Danes made John Hansen feel as if he could play with his eyes closed, showing all of his skills. Not the kind of player to be present at every moment during a game, he was a very prolific goal scorer. Though he was not fast by Serie A standard, he was smart at the moment of getting unmarked and losing his defender, and had an incredible feeling for being at the right spot on the right moment. During the 1951–52 Serie A season, Hansen scored 30 goals, earning him the "

Capocannoniere The ''Capocannoniere'' award (; literally "head gunner"), known as Paolo Rossi Award He moved to league rivals

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spen ...

in 1954, where he played for one season and scored 15 goals in 27 games. He ended his Italian adventure in 1955 and moved back to Denmark. The strictly amateur

Danish Football Association The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national te ...

would not allow ex-professional John Hansen to play in the Danish leagues, and he and fellow Olympic teammate and ex-professional

Jørgen Leschly Sørensen Jørgen Leschly Sørensen (24 September 1922 – 21 February 1999) was a Danish footballer who played as a forward. He started as an amateur player in Danish football, and won the 1945 Danish championship with B.93. He played 14 games and sco ...

took to playing exhibition games. These games had free admittance and gathered such large crowds, that the Danish Football Association in 1958 decided to allow ex-professionals to reenter the Danish league, albeit only after serving a two-year quarantine. Hansen returned to play for BK Frem, where he ended his playing career in 1960.

Coaching career

During his ban from playing football in 1956 and 1957, Hansen coached BK Frem alongside

Erling Sørensen Erling Walther Sørensen (29 October 1920 – 10 October 2002) was a Danish amateur football player and club manager, who won a bronze medal with the Denmark national football team at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Sørensen played professionally ...

. In February 1969, Hansen became a member of the selection committee which selected the players for the Danish national team. At the same time he agreed a one-year deal to replace Erik Hansen as part-time tactical coach of the national team, where he worked in tandem with physical trainer Henry From. They managed Denmark to five victories, one draw, and three defeats in nine games. When the year was up, Hansen refused to prolong the arrangement, urging the Football Association to hire a full-time national team coach.Steen Ankerdal, "Landsholdet", Aschehoug, 2006, p.121 Austrian

Rudi Strittich Rudi Strittich (3 March 1922 – 11 July 2010) was an Austrian football coach and former player. Club career Strittich debuted for Vorwärts Steyr, and later played for First Vienna FC. While with First Vienna, he went on a tour of the Middle ...

was named national team coach in 1970, replacing both Hansen and From, and John Hansen went on to only serve in the selection committee.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Frem *

Danish football championship The Danish football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in Denmark. The title has been contested since 1913, in a varying form of competitions. Since 1991, the winners have been found through the Danish Superliga championsh ...

: 1943–44 Juventus *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

: 1949–50, 1951–52

International

Denmark * Olympic Bronze Medal:

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

Individual

* Danish 1st Division Top Goalscorer: 1947–48 * Summer Olympic Football Tournament Top-scorer:

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

* Italian Serie A Top Goalscorer: 1951–52

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, John Angelo 1924 births 1990 deaths Sportspeople from Frederiksberg Association football forwards Danish men's footballers Denmark international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish football managers Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Denmark Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark Boldklubben Frem players Juventus F.C. players S.S. Lazio players Serie A players Expatriate footballers in Italy Boldklubben Frem managers Denmark national football team managers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics